From what we can tell, the Prince of Wales is making a lot of moves behind-the-scenes. He’s basically “in charge” of what seems like a “soft regency,” especially following his father’s death. There’s a power vacuum within the family, I suppose, and he’s trying to take control. Which means that Charles is ensuring that the Duke of York is cut out of public life for good, and that the Sussexes are not welcomed back. While he has his eye on Andrew and the Sussexes though, other royals are also stepping into the power vacuum. The Middletons are clearly making a big play in recent months, but so are the Wessexes. Ever since the Sussexit, Sophie and Edward have been pushing the idea that they should get more work and a bigger profile. Sophie seems to be the one pushing it the hardest, and she’s been extremely extra for the past 18 months. The “Oprah who?” interview was merely the latest in a long line of “don’t forget about meeeee” stabs at relevance. Now Sophie seems to be going Full Daily Mail, meaning she’s really leaning into the little-England, must-protect-the-Queen-at-all-costs thing.
The Countess of Wessex has become the Queen’s ‘rock’ after Prince Philip’s death by ‘phoning at least once a day and ensuring she is fully supported’, a royal expert has claimed. Her Majesty’s daughter-in-law Sophie, 56, has often been noted as the monarch’s ‘favourite’ family member and closest confidante. Following the Duke of Edinburgh’s passing on April 9, Prince Edward’s wife has been a pillar of support for the Queen, according to royal commentator Duncan Larcombe.
He told The Sun: ‘Sophie Wessex has emerged as the Queen’s unlikely “rock” as the monarch adjusts to life without Prince Philip. Prince Edward’s wife has – according to sources – made it her personal mission to ensure Her Majesty is fully supported by the family. Since the Duke’s death in April, Sophie has driven the 10 miles from her Bagshot Park home to Windsor Castle every few days and most weekends to spend socially-distanced time with Her Majesty. For the days she can’t make it to see the Queen in person, the Countess ‘has made a point of calling her mother-in-law at least once a day’.
It was previously reported that Sophie is one of four loyal, discreet and ‘utterly trustworthy’ women of the Queen’s inner circle who are offering crucial support as she faces life without her beloved Prince Philip, who died on April 9, aged 99.
‘Sophie is like another daughter to the Queen, they are that close,’ said a royal source. ‘She is trusted and relied on like few others.’
To be completely fair, before the Sussexit and Philip’s passing, there were already tons of stories about how the Queen has a great deal of affection for the Queen. Sophie’s mum passed away in 1999, and Sophie seems to care for the Queen much as she would care for an elderly mother. I get that. What I don’t get is using that as a power play. Why not just… be the Queen’s favorite daughter-in-law? Why try to parlay it into a powerful role when Charles becomes king? And is Charles okay with Sophie inserting herself this heavily into the “poor widowed Queen” narrative? Watch this space.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Everyone is jockeying for position. They want that inheritance.
Lol. How many times is Sophie going to “emerge?” As endlessly as Kate “comes into her own,” apparently.
The Wessexes don’t really have any money of their own—they need to cement their position before Charles can shake them off and leave them with no real income and a house they can’t afford. Nobody in that family has money except the monarch and the Prince of Wales—the rest are pretty stupid and definitely desperate. Sophie’s got two kids to launch into some kind of life in a post-Brexit Britain where nothing is certain economically except that the pie is probably about to get much smaller.
Edward will have trust fund money, some of it from the Queen Mother, and he will have inherited some of Prince Philip’s £24 million. The children will have trust funds too. When the Queen dies her personal wealth will no doubt go mainly to family members.
Absolutely spot on! Ever since the queen got Sophie out of that spot of bother 20 years ago, she’s gone out of her way to be seen to be very grateful. I see why she needs to jockey for position before the queen passes.
The Wessexes won’t be broke like you or me—but the scant few million they may or will have is nowhere near enough to live like ‘royals.’
From the published reports, the Queen Mum didn’t leave money to her grandchildren. In the tax-dodging trust she left money to Linley and Chatto, and to the great grandchildren who were alive at the time she made the trust. The Wessex kids weren’t born yet so they didn’t get on the list.
@Nota do you have a link to that? I’ve been looking it up a lot recently and all I can find are “reports” that the QM left trusts for the great-grandkids but there isn’t anything concrete. Harry said in a statement in March that he did not have any money from her.
Royal wills are private, given a deal with Queen made years ago with some PR.
It is an article called the Gamble that Foiled the Tax Man. It may be, like Diana’s inheritance, the inheritance from the Queen Mum is based in age. He doesn’t get the rest of his inheritance from Diana until he turns 40, it may be none of them get their inheritance from the Queen Mum until X age either.
I’m pretty sure he got the full diana inheritance at age 30 or 35.
Yeah I had always heard that the QM played it fast and loose with her will and set up the trusts for the great-grands (but it was a gamble bc if she had died “too soon” they would not have avoid taxes.) And there is a lot of reporting on it but nothing concrete.
It just makes me think if, like so many other things, it was just PR put out there to make the royals sound good.
This. The words that came to my mind was ‘pit of vipers’. Nothing is done without purpose because that’s just how they live, it’s all about power and relevance. Family/genuine personal relationships are WAY down the list.
Bingo! This is all about money and position. Sophie doesn’t want her husband completely edged out when Sulky Chuck becomes King.
It’s more believable it’s her than KKKate Guevara.
I can’t reconcile the Queen liking both her and Meghan.
Huh?
So basically what we can learn from this is that two women are fighting to take the position of a “rock”?
It’s honestly too funny seeing all of them run around like headless chickens.
Please. Continue running and panicking. It’s what you all deserve
The thing is, i can actually see sophie be the queens favorite and her work suggest that she’s more of a rock than kate will ever be.
Agree Cecilia about her possibly being the queen’s fave. Ever since that weird magnificent 7 thing outside of the castle on the steps after the COVID Choo choo tour(sorry I’m unclear as to what to actually call that event) it was clear that the Queen really does like Sophie. The Q literally ignored Kate and gave Sophie a huge smile. So why does Sophie need to go to the DM to let it be known that she is the queens rock and calls her daily. Shouldn’t she be calling Charles daily if she doesn’t want to be slimmed down? I guess she is courting him through articles and public opinion just not sure how that’ll really work. Also, hate the idea of this jealous lady having the queen’s ear when she clearly doesn’t have good opinions of Meghan.
My guess is the real rock is Princess Anne. She would never exploit her mother’s grief.
I suspect the PR is for Charles. She wants to demonstrate that she has influence she can use for him and also set herself up as the Queen’s favorite, so she’ll be harder to shake off later (imagine articles saying, “Charles abandons Queen’s beloved rock.” Or whatever). It’s not especially good PR, honestly. But the whole RF tends to be a bit hamfisted anyway.
If she’s such a favorite, then why is she an “unlikely” rock?
Because most people don’t pay attention to her. She’s literally come out of nowhere because i didn’t even know this woman existed until I started following harry& meghan
I didn’t know much about her, either. But I would expect that a royal expert who knows that Sophie has been “often noted” as TQ’s favorite and a close confidante wouldn’t find Sophie’s support to be unlikely… unless this was a dig against Sophie…
20 years ago she was the ‘new Diana’.
One of the sussexsquad called her “Dollarstore Diana.” 😂
When she started dating Eddie, she modelled herself on Diana, down to copying her hair! She definitely wanted to be Diana 2.0. Then there were the terrible gaffes. They were ordered to shut down private businesses and only work for the monarchy, in exchange for an extremely comfortable and largely unexamined life. Her wardrobe for example never gets mentioned, and it’s huge and very expensive. She’s been perched at the feet of the Queen for 20 odd years now and they do get on
TQ seems to really like her, And ignores Kate. But making Ford fiesta ‘happen’ ain’t gonna happen. TQ will have to leave them enough to keep up their squillion room mansion for 4 people.
She drives the whole 10 miles every few days?!?!!? Oh Sophie, what sacrifice! The country doesnt deserve you.
I think this is about Sophie getting her name out there as much as possible so people stop saying “Sophie who?” when her name comes up (lol), and so she is viewed as an indispensable member of the royal family.
Charles must really have plans for EVERYONE when he gets to the throne.
Lol, +1
Sophie aligning herself so clearly with the Cambridges these last two years tells me relations with Charles are rocky so she is trying to gain William’s favor to make sure she and her family is not cut out in the flow of the money in the long-term. It’s amazing how much my opinion has changed on Sophie in the last couple of years, but that is also the danger of exposure. Part of the benefit of being traditionally Royal and not saying anything is people can project whatever they want to believe about you on to you. It’s also why this goal of promoting Kate as CEO is terrible because it exposes people to her actual personality.
Charles had the Queen’s private secretary, Lord Geidt, fired when he publicly called for Edward and Sophie to be kept on as working royals in Charles’s reign. Sophie kissing up to W&K since then has been obvious.
Sophie and Edward will most likely be in their mid 70s when William becomes King and therefore he will have control of the purse strings. So he’ll be deciding how uncomfortable or comfortable financially the Wessexes are in their retirement/senior citizen years. So the kissing up to the Cambridges is our strategy on Sophie’s part. She’s also got 2 kids to think about.
They’ll still have the lease on their house. How restrictive is it? Can they turn it into a B&B or lease it out for events?
@Equality: They have a lease and therefore they could open Bagshot up but I have no idea if they would be “allowed” to. But if they are, it probably won’t be enough to maintain their lifestyles if they’re completely cut off from the money. They would be paying for staff, upkeep AND their own lifestyles (which aren’t cheap) and it all adds up very quickly…
Where is Princess Anne in this narrative?????
Sophie knows she and her family are OUT once chuck becomes King. I am sure she is doing her best to show how great she is and how reliable she is.
Princess Anne is minding her horses like she always does LOL. I have to say that i love that about her. She minds her business
I feel like they’re worrying for nothing. The original plan was C&C W&K H&M. With H&M gone it’s obvious to me Charles will let them fill the void he kinda have to unless he’s fine with only 4 working royals. Because I doubt the quen’s cousins will be around when he’s king, and Anne can’t do the volume of things she’s doing now in 5/10 years.
It would be difficult to sideline only some of his siblings. Much easier to cut them all off from Sovereign Grant funding simultaneously. Anne, Andrew, Edward/Sophie. Gets Andrew off the taxpayers money without Charles turning him over to the FBI.
There’s still the duchy of Lancaster and the duchy of Cornwall to fund them. How precarious their position can be ?
For Harry and Meghan I could understand because there was obvious hostility towards them so they had to make their own money.
For Sophie and Edward it’s hard to see anything other than them wanting the spotlight for the sake of it.
This pushing of the wessexes is weird. Especially since charles is going to cutt them off regardless
It’s all rather unedifying watching these desperadoes trying to muscle their way to the front. Sophie is no Meghan, that’s for sure.
The Mail has a story today about her and Edward playing golf at some event in their Scottish Earldom (as if Bagshot is not enough), and she’s doing a bit of a Kate, i.e. laughing like a hyena. Dear me.
With the exit of H&M I wonder if they’re still on the chopping block. Sophie is moving like they are. They’ve firmly planted themselves in camp Cambridge too.
i don’t love charles but i disagree, kaiser: i think although he’s pissed at harry right now, he does believe he can get the sussexes back into the fold eventually, probably when he’s king. i think he actually does realise what an asset to the crown they are, and he’s planning to get them back some day.
You may have a point, just look where we are now: with Cams as FQ – who in heck would have thought that was possible 15/20 years ago.
yep. the desperate attempts to rebrand the firm speak to a frantic house that knows it’s fucked, though they won’t admit it – publicly. h&m wouldn’t solve all the crown’s problems, but they would go a long way in helping the crown sustain some support. even some royal reporters seem to low-key suggest the same.
it won’t happen, but charles certainly thinks they’ll come back.
I always thought Camilla she would be Queen Consort. Charles gets what he wants and on his own terms. That’s how he conducted his marriage to Diana.
He could only get them back if he agreed to their terms. No royal rota, half in half out, controlling William’s backstabbing, stopping all staff leaking against the Sussex Family, and setting them free again the second he dies. I doubt Charles would agree to those terms.
I also don’t think the Sussexes would put out those same terms again. What seemed reasonable to them in early 2020 probably seems a lot less reasonable after they have established themselves in the philanthropy and charity worlds – they have independence, money, they’re making a difference – I dont see them giving all that up at this point.
@notasugarhere if you’ve been following this soap opera you’ll realise that nothing is ever going to truly change with the firm. if all it ever took was harry and meghan putting their foot down and the firm agreeing to their “terms”, they’d still be there as we speak. the time for negotiation came and went and the royal family dropped the ball with harry and meghan – they are never coming back.
and of course the smears and attacks won’t ever stop because although they are gone, the rota isn’t going anywhere, and the backstabbing is a mainstay of royal life. the system demands red meat for the rota and the firm is clearly happy to keep dangling h&m.
the only reason harry was able to bar british press for the statue unveiling (as he probably will from his future events as well) is because he left the “system” and is no longer cowed by these people.
I know in the world of palace intrigue everything’s a power play or whatever but this could on one level at least, just be that Sophie is the one who has the relationship/gives enough of a shit to make sure a recently widowed, pretty old woman has a little more emotional support. Sometimes even the most dysfunctional families are just another family at times like these.
Chucky may want a slimmed down monarchy but unless he lights a fire under the Cambridge asses he should be grateful the Wessexes are looking for extra work. He and Anne aren’t getting any younger, they’ve lost a superstar and Andy can GFH.
Unlike H&M, they could not stand on their own 2 feet even though Sophie tried the gossipy things, secret interviews with the fake sheik. And why were they allowed 50/50 when they first married with full HRH and titles.
William and kate were also allowed 50/50 when they were just married. Only in 2017 did they become full time and even that wasn’t full time for kate because she was pregnant with louis
They were ‘allowed’ it. W&K ran off to Wales and refused to work. Philip even publicly called on them to work so he could retire, but they refused.
Kate really never became full time. She took those maternity leaves and even before she had the children her spin was that she had to be “eased in” to working. And time to “select” her charities. And all the spin that the Queen wanted them to have the Malta type years of “freedom” before they worked. The Queen worked as Princess and the Malta years were exaggerated, she was not there for two consecutive years and more and more had to take on her ailing father’s work. HM had KP renovated even the extra kitchens for Kate and all of a sudden William wanted to be an ambulance co-pilot so he postponed the full time work. Kate still has low work numbers but it is a lot of smoke and mirrors with her
Yup. They’re the reason why the royals thought that the Sussexes would fail miserably and come crawling back in a year. No wonder Sophie’s digging her heels in.
They weren’t half-in, half-out when they married. They were fully out, not working royals, not supported by the Civil List (now Sovereign Grant). With titles and HRH, but required to earn their living. Any ‘work’ they did was volunteer and unofficial.
After they failed so massively, and after the embarrassing entrapment interviews? Queen threw up her hands and made them working royals. IMO that’s what Sophie wanted all along.
Sophie will sell anyone for money, guess she is taking a break from hitting up an imposter posing as an Arab Sheik and slagging the royal family for money.
At least with Fergie there is no pretense.
Where are the indignant articles that Sophie is using association with the Queen for an inheritance or for PR?
Sophie only married Edward to join the royal family. She’s been waiting for her chance for years and now she sees it. She would have done it earlier if not for the scandal.
This is such a weird story. Daughter in law checks on elderly mother in law, story at 11. It shows how dysfunctional the family is that they think checking in on an elderly parent is news worthy.
I do think that Charles is cross because he really planned to have the Sussexes as back up for the lazy pair, sort of what Anne has been doing all this time, quietly working putting up numbers while his children were growing up.
It is understandable that they keep working(Anne, Edward, or even Andrew), they are the actual children of the current monarch and are receiving money and watching out for their own children and grandchildren.
Lazy William has everything without effort. Harry had to work, but at the same time he and Meghan could not overshadow the main line. They wanted them to be like Anne, productive but unseen. Even Sophie has been working off the grid so she does not rack higher numbers.
I think Harry and Meghan would have been fine with toning down their light for longer, if it weren’t for the press attacks. It became too much for anyone to bear.
Sophie and Edward is what they need, and I think Charles is not happy because he has to take into account one of his brothers instead of just working with both is children. That puts him in a predicament with Andrew, at least.
.
In other monarchies, they go with the main line, and they seem to be working alright, but maybe the heirs are not so lazy as Won’t and Kan’t (taking their time, working in their marriage, raising their children, dipping their toes, working part time, creating 5 min surveys, studying “courses”, and long etcetera).
I used to work for a guy who was a big fish in a medium pond. There was the wife of one of my co-workers who thought she should also be a big fish. At every event she would stand next to my boss so she would be in every picture of him, therefore always named and associated with him in the papers. It became a running joke in the office.
That is what Sofie reminds me of.
My favourite part of this was the typo….or was it unintentional shade??
‘To be completely fair, before the Sussexit and Philip’s passing, there were already tons of stories about how the Queen has a great deal of affection for the Queen’
🙂
Desperate much?
Again with this story? If Sophie is the rock for the queen why isn’t she going to Scotland instead of Anne? Its seems like she is trusted to hold the Queen’s blanket but not much else.
Not everything you read in the press is true!
I think Sophie does this to get the most out of the queen before she passes (and to increase whatever they are left in the will) as Charles probably will do the minimum for Edward/ Sophie/ their children financially and status wise when he is king. I get it , you do what you have to do.
I’m just rather confused about which covid rules these people are following and how/why. Why is Sophie having socially distanced visits with the Queen? I would assume they’re both vaccinated by now based on their ages, unless everyone is only getting one shot in the UK? Or Sophie only has one shot but the Queen has both? Or if they’re both fully vaccinated, is it out of an abundance of caution for the Queen because of new variants? Is there a rule in the UK that even if you’re fully vaccinated you still need to mask or distance for now?
But if they’re being so careful (either just with the Queen bc of how old she is or because that’s what the rules are right now in UK for everyone) how was the Queen able to go meet with Harry on the first day he arrived in England if he’s supposed to be quarantining for five days? Did they assume it was safe because Harry and the Queen are both fully vaccinated? Or was that also a socially distanced or masked visit? But can one even meet with people socially distanced or masked if one is in quarantine? I thought the whole point of quarantine was that you see absolutely no one outside of the people who are quarantining with you (like your family if you all traveled together) and then after 5 days and a negative test you’re allowed to go out and follow whatever regulations are being recommended in that country like mask wearing or social distancing. If the Queen was able to visit Harry, how come the press was saying that no one in the family would be able to see him before the statue unveiling because he would be in quarantine?
And also, also, if you’re supposed to socially distance and/or wear masks even if you’re fully vaccinated because of the variants, then how come we keep seeing Will and Kate and other members of the RF out and about at their events with no masks and without being distanced, even when they’re hanging around children who we know aren’t being vaccinated? I see some half-assed attempts at social distancing sometimes (like when they’re all seated at tables for Kate’s round table talk with Biden, or there are chairs arranged in a circle for a chat with parents/carers) but otherwise, it seems pretty relaxed and not at all distanced when she’s interacting with the general public and kids at school/charity visits or at that movie event in Scotland where she and Will leaned into people’s cars to talk with them.
And if these are recent rule changes because the new variant is so dangerous and prevalent now that even vaccinated people like Sophie and the Queen have to social distance while hanging out, then how come they’re all allowed to travel all over the place from country to country within the UK (the Queen is going to Scotland with Will and Anne: 3 people from 3 separate households traveling through entire countries together)? And why are they traveling back and forth from county to county between their various town and country homes every week, and even traveling to look at schools and homes in Buckleberry?
One thing I learned from the older generation of my family is they have weathered many deaths and tragedies, better than we did, and don’t really need to be shielded. Yes it is an awful adjustment to lose everyone who knew you as a child but the queen has lost many people and I’m sure has found some way come to terms with death.
Also, this story about Sophie being the queens favorite is repeated as often as Keen finding her voice. However, As the rf are so disfunctional I would not be surprised if Sophie was the only one to check in daily and make sure the queen is doing well.
Sophie is like a sleeper cell. There have been several stories about how the Queen admires her the most of the marry-ins (this is pre Meghan). She apparently works hard, does her research, gets herself to events and back, isn’t a fashion maven, doesn’t cost much to run (relatively speaking) etc. When you think about it, that list of stuff is pretty basic and if that counts as “working hard” as a royal, you have to wonder what the rest are up to. Anyway, the Queen is fond of her and her father, I believe. Now, though, Sophie has to make good on the relationship and step into the breach caused by her family’s disgusting jettisoning of H&M.
Except she IS a fashion maven. She just doesn’t look it. Her wardrobe is all designer and huge. She’s got a manager just for that.
The article mentions that the Queen confides in four women, who are closest to her. Who wants to guess who they are?
*Adjusts tinfoil hat*
My guesses:
1) Sophie
2) Anne
3) Angela Kelly
4) Princess Alexandra
Honestly I think only #3 is toxic.
You are fifty years old. Get a real job.
These leechers are pathetic. They need to plan their children future so the children wont end up like them.
The sussex had so that archie and lili will have a better future without leeching on anyone.